TEACHING PHILOSOPHYRUOQIN WANG
12/5/2013
Teaching Philosophy
It is very common to see Chinese college students who were silent for the entire English class became very eloquent in criticizing how boring and inefficient the class was afterwards. That is probably because they are pushed to pass the College English Test (CET) twice during the four years in college, which takes even more time than the courses in their fields of study. Is there a way to make students realize the real value of learning English, the global language? Instead of making my class exam-oriented, I will help my students develop individualized learning plans, which include both objectives and content. This does not mean my class will decentralized where students do whatever they want. Nonetheless, by teaching the same listening, speaking, reading or writing material in class, I will use thought-provoking questions to lead discussions, based on the results of which students can produce their authentic thoughts either orally or in written text. You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. With my students, I want them to enjoy freedom to express themselves as they do outside of the classroom. Therefore I desire to create a relaxing class environment where students don’t have to worry about being judged.
College students in China have learned English for at least 6 years and most of them learn it in teacher-centered classrooms.If I want them to enjoy learning English for individualized purposes, I must begin equipping them with the necessary skills and mindsets in class.Firstly, I will integrate group work whenever necessary since it can create more space for communicating. More importantly, it provides good opportunities for collaborative reflection on learning goals. By sharing their interests, stories and knowledge from respective fields of study, I will let students know every English learner is equal and has a unique identity. I will bring in relevant materials such as a free MOOC course in which non-native speakers from all over the world provide both pros and cons of learning English. Students in turn will be asked to reflect on their own identities as English learners. For example, students who prefer to speak only with those who can speak “better” English in class can have a new conceptualization of nativism.
Apart from diverse learning goals, I also want my students to learn English that can help the study of their majors, which happens mostly during independent learning outside of class. In class, I will give them full chance to be exposed to different modes of discourse and genres of text and encourage them to dig deeper into topics they find interesting. In a reading class, I will use a popular science article on types of boredom from the National Geography website. After class, I will also provide access to the original journal article on which the web article is based. They will be asked to compare how definitions are explained and write something in their journals about what they have learned. This task shows students the possibility of using English to learn beyond the scope of curriculum. In that particular class, they will develop skills to read literature in English in their own fields of study.
The third thing I want to do is to let students realize the more you learn beyond a test, the better you do onthat test, at least true with English. For example, I believe that reading strategies develop better and faster when people are reading joyfully or at least with a purpose. The strategies and vocabulary my students learn during intensive reading may be useful later when they are taking a test. Meanwhile, they should understand test score is only a byproduct of meaningful language learning. On the other hand, it is also critical to take into account students’ beliefs. Asking students to be critical with their English teacher and English classes is one way to elicit students’ true thoughts and preferences with regards to learning English. If some students want more practice in test taking, I will direct them to relevant materials and give them more test-related assignments.
In my opinion, a necessary condition to change theteacher-centered tradition of teaching English in China is tomake students realize they are all independent learners. I hope my classes can be a chance for my students to reshape their expectations and identities as English learners. College is a critical period to become lifelong learners of a foreign language. Lifelong learners should not only be able to drink water from a river in front of them but also have to find the river by themselves. It is this self-reliant learning experience that can help my students become global citizens of the 21st century.